Balkan Pact

The Balkan Pact was a military alliance between Greece, Turkey, Romania, and Yugoslavia that existed from 1934 to 1938. The pact was an attempt to reduce the tensions in the Balkans, with its aim being to restore stability and cooperation to the entire region. A resentful Bulgaria refused to join the pact due to its claims over Macedonia, which had become part of Greece and Serbia. The pact became the basis for the "Balkan Entente", which established a permanent council to lead the pact. The pact was too weak to provide resistance to the German and Italian invasion during World War II, with Greece being occupied by the Axis Powers, Bulgaria and Romania cooperating with the Axis, Turkey remaining neutral, and Yugoslavia being internally divided. After World War II, a second pact between Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey was formed in 1954, but mounting Greco-Turkish tensions over Cyprus led to the disintegration of this alliance.